Latest News - Netherlands..
A couple of months ago my my girlfriend of over 3 years, Katharina, and I broke up. She moved to Nuremberg and my initial plan was to follow her there after a semester in Passau improving my German, but I decided it wasn't what I wanted. We're still keeping in touch, but it's a little awkward - time will hopefully make it easier, as I really want us to become friends.
Since then, I've been living it up in Passau and generally enjoying myself. However, without any fixed plan for the future, I started looking for contracts around Europe. I applied for a short term contract in Berlin, which would have been cool, but didn't get it (or even a callback) - I think I asked for too much money. Then I spotted a 6 month contract for a Python Developer & Linux Engineer in the Netherlands. I was initially disappointed to discover it was in the Hague, but after chatting to some people and looking at train timetables, I realised that Den Haag is really not far from anything. 45 minutes to Amsterdam is nothing - I've waited longer than that to get from Chatswood to the city. Plus there are other nice places near Den Haag. So, after a bit of chasing I got the attention of the recruiter who had forgotten me after the initial phone call, and things got slowly rolling.
I had a phone interview on Wednesday with the manager from the company, which turned out to be Shell. The position is actually in Rijswijk, just outside Den Haag, but only 10 minutes away from Den Haag Centraal. The manager seemed to like me, and is keen to get me on-board.
A formal offer should come early in the new year, but I've got a verbal yes, as well as a very positive second hand quote from the recruiter, which was "I've been waiting for this profile for 3 months, and I get it just before Christmas!" - I think means that immediately before Christmas is an unfortunate time to be organising such things, rather than with a child's Sintaklaas joy - I don't think he's that into his job. I would most likely start mid-way through January.
As a skilled migrant earning over the threshold, I will be entitled to the 30% tax rebate, which significantly offsets the prohibitive dutch tax & social insurances and makes this contract lucrative. The work sounds very much like what I like - a mix of programming and system engineering, utilising many of the same technologies as used in the telco field - but certainly more formalised than in my experiences. I think there are almost as many project managers as engineers.
It's a pity that it's so far from Passau, but I will be able to afford to come back and visit reasonably often - flights can be reasonably priced and will save 8 hours or so of train-time. Weekend trips should be possible.
Am I abandoning my hard-earned German language skills for Dutch now? Not a chance. I'll learn some Dutch to avoid embarrassment, but the country's multilingual enough that English and failing that German should serve me well. There are many similarities to German, so the trick is to learn the pronunciation and pick up the vocabulary, where it vastly differs.
My first tasks will be signing contracts, getting a SOFI (tax file) number, getting a bank account, and then apartment hunting. I'm actually thinking that I'd like to find some shared accommodation, since it's a totally new country and language.. it would also probably be a little cheaper initially (before first month's payment).
— by Robert Thomson, created 30th Dec, 2006, last modified 3rd Jan, 2007 | 2 comments | Tags: Passau, World
2 comments:
Hi, I am a developer from melbourne, who moved to Holland the beginning of this year.
If you want some tips on the whole registration, SOFI, bank account process I can fill you in.
Sometimes it is very frustrating, but worth it all in the end. I am waiting to hear about my 30% ruling, which so far has taken about 6 months. But if you work for Shell, i am sure they would have some good contacts at the various government departments.
Good Luck!
— by Nick Loeve, 2 years ago:
linguistically, dutch, german and english have more in common than they don't. You should find that what you've learnt about speaking german will help with dutch.
There's a fair bit of stuff online... here's a couple of links you might find handy.
http://www.dutchgrammar.com/
http://www.lauraspeaksdutch.info/
groetjes!
— by donna, 2 years ago: